The UN again adopted a resolution heavily critical of the North Korean human rights situation on Thursday, in a move to put extra pressure on the North Korean regime ahead of its appearance before the UN Human Rights Council on December 7th.
The resolution was sponsored by South Korea and more than 50 other nations, including Six-Party Talks members the United States and Japan.
In the resolution, “Situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the North Korean government inevitably receives heavy criticism for, overall, the “persistence of continuing reports of systematic, widespread and grave violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights” in the country.
The resolution goes on to list torture, the absence of due process in law, use of the death penalty, collective punishment, strict restrictions on freedom of movement, thought, conscience, religion, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, the right to privacy and equal access to information, the treatment of returned refugees, violations of economic, social and cultural rights, human rights and fundamental freedoms of women, children and the disabled among others as areas of serious concern, before also criticizing the North Korean government’s ongoing refusal to accept the mandate of the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the North Korean human rights situation or to solve issues related to abductions.
The article related to the treatment of refugees is notable for its criticism of China, in addition to North Korea itself. Expressing its concern that the “situation of refugees and asylum-seekers expelled or returned to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and sanctions imposed on citizens of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who have been repatriated from abroad” is very serious, “leading to punishments of internment, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or the death penalty,” the resolution calls on North Korea’s neighbors to “treat those who seek refuge humanely” and urges compliance with 1951 and 1967 UN documents relating to the status of refugees, something which China has hitherto failed to do.
The resolution comes just two weeks before North Korea is due to appear before the UN Human Rights Council for its Universal Periodic Review, or UPR, where it will be questioned on the human rights reality in the country.
According to Yonhap, North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the U.N., Pak Tok Hun, dismissed yesterday’s resolution as an attempt to “isolate and suffocate” the country.
